Racial Profiling

If you were to visit Jakarta, the locals would almost certainly tell you about a place called Bandung. Roughly a two hour drive from Jakarta, Bandung is home to some of the most classic shopping anywhere on the planet. Clothing and apparel retailers like Versace, Burberry, DKNY, Abercrombie & Fitch, Espirit, Kenneth Cole, Ralph Lauren, and many more have products manufactured in Bandung. As a teaser to get you back, let's just say that the deals are epic. But that's not the topic of conversation today.

Let me tackle the touchy subject of racial profiling. As foreigners in Indonesia, we stand out like sore thumbs. The stares are constant and uncomfortable, but we cope. That's not to say that the people here aren't welcoming and wonderful because they most certainly are. But when a foreigner walks through a market or visits a site, the prices immediately spike north. Hence, racial profiling. One comedic event happened on the outskirts of Bandung as we visited an active volcano. Let me set the stage here - we took one car to Bandung. Our driver and two friends are native Indonesians. The other 3 of us are American. As we arrived at the foot of the volcano, the park entrance had a price list. Standard pricing is very reasonable. However, a conveniently located sign just beneath the normal price list says "Tourists" and lists a price 3 times that of general admission. Isn't that special? So one security guard and 3 park workers tried to convince us that the 3 white people needed to pay the "Tourist" rate while our local friends get the general rate. We'll see about that. Of course our arguments were legitimate because we do, after all, live in Indonesia. We aren't just touring through. After a brief exchange, the security guard asked us to pull forward to the left. He approached the vehicle and yours truly rolled down the window to have a friendly chat. In a completely controlled, yet firm manner, I proceeded to point to my white arm and tell this security guy not to judge me by the color of my skin. "Don't be a racist man!" Okay, I didn't say that, but I thought it. Some in the car would later claim that because this security gentleman didn't speak English, he surely thought that I was threatening him with my muscles by pointing to my arm and speaking forcefully. One way or the other, it worked. He huddled with his coworkers and the price came back down. We got the fair deal!

Another quick story. At the summit of the volcano, a vendor was attempting to sell a stuffed, foot-shaped pillow to Kyra. His opening price, 150,000 Rupiah (about $15) for ONE item. Kyra was mildly interested in his product, but not his price. Before this vendor gave up, he had followed Kyra for about 100 yards and brought his price down to 50,000 Rupiah for TWO items. She didn't bite. We got a good laugh from this. It taught us a lot about bargaining.